National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement

Abstract

About 70% of more than half a million Implicit Association Tests completed by citizens of 34 countries revealed expected implicit stereotypes associating science with males more than with females. We discovered that nation-level implicit stereotypes predicted nation-level sex differences in 8th-grade science and mathematics achievement. Self-reported stereotypes did not provide additional predictive validity of the achievement gap. We suggest that implicit stereotypes and sex differences in science participation and performance are mutually reinforcing, contributing to the persistent gender gap in science engagement.

Gender differences in mathematics and science competitions: A systematic review

“…Specifically, expectations about communal goals in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology could explain the uneven participation of females in these subjects and corresponding Olympiads (Diekman, Steinberg, Brown, Belanger, & Clark, ). The relationship between stereotypes and achievement was confirmed among secondary school students by Nosek et al () in a large‐scale study among 34 countries: a country's average gender‐science stereotype was found to predict gender differences in mathematics and science achievement. In addition, stronger gender‐mathematics stereotypes were also associated with poorer mathematics performance in females (Song, Zuo, & Yan, ).…”

“…In his study Jones () suggested that masculine associations with physics and feminine associations with biology explain the uneven distribution of male and female participants. These associations related to the fields of mathematics and science are known as gender‐mathematics and gender‐science stereotypes, which are generally endorsed beliefs that males are naturally more talented and interested in mathematics and science than females (Cvencek et al, ; Cvencek et al, ; Farrell, Cochrane, & McHugh, ; Farrell & McHugh, ; Hyde & Linn, ; Liu, Hu, Jiannong, & Adey, ; Nosek et al, ; Nosek et al, ; Smyth & Nosek, ; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, ; Steffens & Jelenec, ).…”

Addressing the STEM Gender Gap by Designing and Implementing an Educational Outreach Chemistry Camp for Middle School Girls

“…2 Research indicates that this gender gap may start as early as elementary school, with 35 female students having a more negative attitude towards science than males starting as early as 4 th grade. 3,4 This gender gap is likely reinforced by the fact that high school science teachers spend significantly more time addressing the boys in the classroom, a fact that has been well-documented in the literature as recently as 2013. 5,6 This gender gap has a multitude of potential causes that have been investigated in 40 the literature, including: (a) a lack of female scientist role models, 7,8 which contributes to childrens' perceptions that scientists are overwhelmingly white males; 9,10 (b) girls'…”

The independent contributions of gender stereotypes and gender identification in predicting primary school pupils’ expectancies of success in STEM fields

“…Stereotypes can influence children's perceptions about their competence in domains that are culturally incongruent with their gender and subsequently their expectancy for success and achievement in these domains. For instance, Nosek et al () showed that national‐level implicit stereotypes about gender and science predicted differences in achievement in grade 8 students. However, an important additional factor in the link between cultural beliefs and achievement is the level of internalization of said beliefs, that is, of stereotype endorsement, which has been shown to make women more vulnerable to stereotype threat effects (Schmader, Johns, & Barquissau, ; see also Bonnot & Croizet, ) and stereotype‐consistent autobiographical recall (Chatard, Guimond, & Selimbegović, ).…”